Environmental impacts of refugees in West Africa

The media focus on Africa in recent decades unfortunately reflects the existence of repeated tragedies and crises. The conflicts, latent or open, that affect West Africa cause population movements in both directions. Conflict refugees, seeking refuge, sometimes represent a heavy burden for the ecosystems of the host countries (VAN HAUWAERT, 1992). The objective of this study is to analyze the spatial and temporal impacts of conflict refugees on renewable natural and human resources in West Africa. It will focus on showing the extent to which refugees are responsible for the degradation of these resources. In the context of this work, information gathering based on the exploitation of secondary data has made it possible to identify study variables and then to direct the research towards specific documentation and to synthesize the results, which have been discussed. From the review of the literature, the strong linkages between the environmental causes and consequences of refugee presence provide a compelling argument for their evaluation.